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Sunday, January 10, 2016

She Was Pretty: Wrap-Up (Episodes 6-16)

Okay, I'm back friends. The holidays were wonderful and I've moved into a new place. It's kept me busy, but happy and now I'm happy to be back from my hiatus and ready to spend some time with my friends. To solidify this commitment, I'm starting a new Drama Club this week for DramaFever. The drama is....drum roll please... Moorin High School. A high-energy action drama about a martial arts high school. Kind of a new genre for me to blogging about so I'm excited. I know right up front that I'm going to be able to do recaps for each episodes, but expect some memes from me on Tumblr and Instagram and I'll be discussing it a little on this blog as well.

I committed to finishing She Was Pretty and that's a big part of the reason I've not recapped any dramas since. Although, I really enjoyed the drama, I've had a hard time sitting down and writing about it for some reason. But today, I've locked myself in my room and won't come out until I've finished. Now at this point doing individual recaps seems a bit silly, so instead I'll recap the last 11 episodes as a whole and then give you my take on the series. All in all it'll be more of a recap/drama diagnosis hybrid. Essentially, I want to get back to more fresh Kdrama topics and new dramas to stay relevant. For those who were really enjoying the She Was Pretty recaps before I disappeared for awhile, I apologize. I will strive to stay more relevant in the future. Now, without further ado, let's get back to She Was Pretty.

Episode 6
When we last left off, Hye Jin had found Sung Joon in the rain and had gone to rescue him. Worried he might be having a hard time, she sends Shin Hyuk to check on him. sung Joon has caught a cold and Shin Hyuk takes care of him and incidentally steals a pair of his underwear, which he quite likes. Sung Joon starts to greatly soften toward Hye Jin after the way she rescued him because she reminds him so much of the Hye Jin he used to know. Ha Ri still struggles over her feelings for Sung Joon while knowing that she needs to end things with him. She confides in Shin Hyuk about how she's feeling. Ha Ri makes another attempt to tell him the truth, but still cannot and in fact clings to him more. She feels guilty toward Hye Jin, but doesn't know what else to do for the time being. Meanwhile Hye Jin's feelings for Sung Joon are growing too. Hye Jin gets asked to go on the business trip in her manager's place and when everyone else disappears it leaves just her and Sung Joon together.

Episode 7
Things are a bit awkward between the two of them at first. They stop to eat at a restaurant, but the Chief accidentally left his wallet and they don't have the money to pay so they're forced to work off the meal, which makes for a great bonding experience. Once they finally reach their destination located on the ocean, Hye Jin gets as excited as a little kid and Sung Joon can't but admire her infectious laugh and personality. Ha Ri finds out that the two are on a business trip together and gets jealous even though she realizes she has no right to. Unbeknownst to the other, Sung Joon and Hye Jin find themselves drawn more and more to each other. Hye Jin is about to confess her identity to Sung Joon when Shin Hyuk shows up at exactly the wrong moment to collect on a dinner she promised him. Sung Joon even finds himself growing jealous of Shin Hyuk and Hye Jin's relationship. Even though her chance was interrupted, Hye Jin still plans on telling Sung Joon the truth. Shin Hyuk sees Ha Ri and Sung Joon together and realizes what's happening. He shields Hye Jin from having to see them.

Episode 8
Ha Ri confesses her full feelings for Sung Joon and things are...awkward. He doesn't exactly feel the same way with his newfound feelings for the real Hye Jin. Still, thinking she's his childhood friend he doesn't want to reject her. Sung Joon keeps seeing more and more similarities between Hye Jin and his childhood friend, Hye Jin, and his confusion is off the charts. She plans to tell him the truth after their photo shoot that day until a massive misunderstanding causes Hye Jin to be blamed for ruining the photo shoot. Sung Joon goes OFF on her and humiliates her in front of everyone. He fires her and everyone is shocked at what a monster he is to her. After this episodes Hye Jin has no desire to ever see him again let alone tell him the truth. Soon after Hye Jin leaves, Sung Joon finds out that it wasn't her fault at all and everyone is even more shocked when he doesn't seek her out immediately to apologize. Shin Hyuk tells Ha Ri that he knows about her and Sung Joon and warns her to tell Sung Joon before it blows up in her face and everyone finds out. Ha Ri rushes to find him, but can't get ahold of him. Instead she finds Hye Jin who's been fired and realizes she might not be in trouble of being exposed after all. At the office, Hye Jin is greatly missed meanwhile she's busy searching for a new job. After a "brofrontation" between Shin Hyuk and Sung Joon, Shin Hyuk admits to liking Hye Jin and convinces Sung Joon he needs to bring Hye Jin back. Sung Joon goes to find Hye Jin and asks her to come back, but she declines. It seems like she's just really fed up with his mood swings at that point. But after seeing her dad get humiliated for his old equipment at work, she decides to discard her pride and go back to The Most so she can buy him some new equipment. She returns with a brand new make-over.

Episode 9
Hye Jin 2.0 is in the house. A little bit of bb cream and hair product go a long way. That with an update to her wardrobe and she's right at home with everyone else at the fashion magazine and everyone's happy to have her back. Meanwhile Ha Ri's internal struggle has made her physically sick yet she still doesn't confess. Sung Joon is late to a big event at Most because of the rain and while everyone else criticizes him, Hye Jin sticks up for him. Ha Ri starts writing a letter to Sung Joon in an effort to come out with the truth. Sung Joon admires Hye Jin from a distance and his feelings continue to be conflicted. Hye Jin goes to cover a story in a country but takes the wrong car by mistake and ends up driving her co-worker's malfunctioning car. Ha Ri plans to meet Sung Joon for dinner and confess, but when everyone finds out that Hye Jin took the wrong car and then no one can get ahold of her both Sung Joon and Shin Hyuk separately rush to find her. Even though it's downpouring, Sung Joon has no fear except for that of Hye Jin's safety and finally realizes the depth of his feelings for her. He finds her safe and well and engulfs her a hug, which completely shocks her. Shin Hyuk shows up to find the two embracing.

Episode 10
After Sung Joon and Hye Jin's impromptu embrace, the two are feeling a little awkward. After he drops her off, Hye Jin decides she needs to tell him the truth right away. She rushes to his apartment just in time to see Ha Ri waiting there for him. Of course Ha Ri had been waiting there to tell himthe truth, but when Sung Joon sees her he feels guilty because he knows that because of his feelings for the real Hye Jin, he's going to end up hurting her. Hye Jin is shocked by the full meaning of what she sees. In her daze she finds herself stuck at the bus station and calls Shin Hyuk to come get her. He incidentally got quite injured in his rush to go rescue her but she has no idea and he comes anyway. Hye Jin tells him what happened, but says that she's going to give Ha Ri the chance to come clean on her own and to trust Ha Ri. But this causes her to be even more awkward than normal around Sung Joon. Hye Jin realizes Shin Hyuk got hurt trying to rescue her and goes to find him. He confesses his feelings to her. Ha Ri makes one last attempt to meet up with Sung Joon to tell him the truth and he agrees to meet her. Incidentally, he plans to come clean about his feelings for Hye Jin at the same time. But before either has the opportunity to, Sung Joon sees Ha Ri at the hotel responding to the name "Min Ha Ri".

Episode 11
Sung Joon realizes that Ha Ri has been lying to him the whole time and she confesses that the real Hye Jin is the one that he's developed feelings for. Needless to say Sung Joon is not very happy with her. He heads to find the real Hye Jin right away, leaving Ha Ri absolutely devastated. He calls Hye Jin on the phone, crying at the discovery and she starts crying as well and the devastation continues as Hye Jin breaks Shin Hyuk's heart as she leaves him right after he's confessed to go find Sung Joon. The tears continue as well once they see each other in person. Sung Joon more berates himself for not recognizing her instead of blaming her. When Hye Jin finds out that Ha Ri got got instead of having the chance to tell her story, she goes to find her friend to make sure she's okay. She apologizes to Hye Jin, but rushes away quickly before she has a chance to address her feeling. Sung Joon makes his way to Hye Jin's house to greet her family whom he hasn't seen in years. Hye Jin is embarassed, but he loves her family like they're his own. Feeling guilty after what she's done, Ha Ri makes plans to move away and Hye Jin goes to the airport to stop her.

Episode 12
Hye Jin finds Ha Ri to find out that she was never leaving in the first place. Meanwhile Sung Joon has an obnoxious new roommate in Shin Hyuk who's made himself at home in Sung Joon's house while they brainstorm new ideas for the magazine after Sung Joon convinced Shin Hyuk not to leave and take the tempting offer from another magazine. Sung Joon and Hye Jin are pretty much aware of each others' feelings at this point, but they're too busy working to do much about it. Even though Shin Hyuk is aware of Hye Jin and Sung Joon's developing romance, he's determined to still try his best to win her heart. Sung Joon overworked himself until he collapsed and was rushed to the hosptial. Hye Jin takes off to find him immediately once she hears. When she gets to the hospital, Sung Joon pulls her into the hospital bed with him and kisses her. They may not have time for dating, but I guess there's always time for kissing.

Episode 13
After seeing Hye Jin and Sung Joon's romance unfolding before his eyes, Shin Hyuk eases any awkwardness between him and Hye Jin by teasing her as always and insisting that she doesn't act any different around him. Hye Jin is worried that people at the office will start to talk if they find out about her and Sung JOon so she convinces him to keep it quiet and treat her as he always did. Sung Joon joins Hye Jin's family for her parent's anniversary dinner and is touched by how warm they are how much they already feel like his family. The Most is in jeopardy of shutting down as they're still number 2. When the crew learns that Sung Joon kept the fact that headquarters is threatening to shut them down if they don't reach first place from them, they all get upset and quit. Hye Jin encourages Sung Joon and tells him that they're in it together. Sung Joon goes and personally apologizes and asks every member of the crew to come back and they gladly do. Sung Joon and Hye Jin finally have to go on a date and Sung Joon tells her that he knows it's too early, but he is going to propose after they are successful with the big 20th anniversary issue. She responds by telling him she hopes they success and they share a beautiful beach kiss.

Episode 14
Ha Ri reconciles with her father, whom she is now separating herself from by refusing his money. She's determined to find her own way in life and become her own person. The Most decides that the best way to have their potentially last issue be successful is to get an interview with the elusive author, 10, who they learn is Korean. No one knows who he/she is, so if they get an interview, it's a definite hit. The team is determined to find this Ten, but they have no luck. They began to face the realization that they maybe won't become number one that month and therefore decide to go out while having fun. They all write the articles they want to write. But Shin Hyuk has a plan that will save him all. Before he reveals it all, he spends the day out with Jackson having fun. The next day Sung Joon gets a call that Ten is willing to get an interview. When he gets there, it's no other than Shin Hyuk, who has been Ten all along. In another shocker, the CEO of their company's son turns out to be a reporter in their very midst, the lazy Reporter.

Episode 15
Sung Joon has a brief crisis of conscience as he debates whether to sell out Shin Hyuk so that they can make their says. Even though Shin Hyuk insists, Sung Joon decides not to do it. But for the good of his 'Jackson' and his friends at 'The Most', Shin Hyuk makes sure the article gets published anyway. Now the whole country, scratch that, the whole civilized world knows that he is Ten. The office is reeling from both revelations about Shin Hyuk and the lazy manager. The lazy manager decides to stay among them as a reporter, but Shin Hyuk has taken off and only left a video as a goodybe to them all, but leaves Hye JIn out of the video. Ha Ri realizes that all along she loved hotel management and only quit because her father got her the job. The office manages to acheive 1st place, but they aren't happy about it. They miss Shin Hyuk and since Hye Jin's 3 months are up they miss her as she leaves to go back to the support team. Sung Joon has to return to America and asks Hye Jin to go with him. She says that she will, but he can tell that she rally wants to join a group of children's book authors that offered her a spot in their group. Shin Hyuk comes back one last time to say goodbye to Jackson and they both depart with a smile on their face. Ha Ri has decided to go back to school for hotel management. Sung Joon is planning to propose to Hye Jin, when she shows up to anxiously propose to him first. She wants to join the children's author group, but he already knows. They agree to spend the year apart and get married after the year is up.

Episode 16
Sung Joon and Hye Jin keep in almost constant communication even though they are on opposite ends of the world. They keep in contact for a few months until one day Hye Jin panics when she can't reach him. But that's only because he's making the journey back to Korea to be with her. He can't stand being away from her any longer. He takes a new position at The Most as the Editor in Chief as the old one quit to get married. He invites all of the employees to his wedding. They are shocked to hear he's getting married let alone to Hye Jin. No one had any clue the two had feelings for one another. Hye Jin and Sung Joon get married and keep the playful relationship they've always had. Shin Hyuk is seen traveling the world as the same playful goofball he's always been. Ha Jin gets a job at a new hotel based on her own effort this time. Hye Jin finally has the money to give her dad to buy new equipment and learns that the whole time he's been saving up money for her to get married and that's why he hasn't spent any money on new equipment or anything for himself. Hye Jin has now become a children's book author like she's always wanted to and our drama has a sweet ending as Sung Joon walks a frizzy haired, red-faced little girl across the sidewalk with an umbrella.

Thoughts
She Was Pretty was a solid drama. Some of the best things about it: Fun plot, sweet romance, and mostly the phenomenon that is Siwon. He was so incredible as Shin Hyuk. I have never seen a funnier character on a Kdrama. Ever. His facial expressions, his attitude, his entire character was pure gold. The other characters were pretty great too, but he stole the show. I'm telling everyone who is a fan of Siwon that this drama is a must-watch to see him alone, in all his glory. So sad that this will be his last drama for at least two years, but he went out on an absolutely fantastic note. That's certainly the way to do it.
Conversely, one of the things I find very aggravating about this drama is the fact that he is the second male lead. Sung Joon is a super sweetheart, but how can anyone compare to Siwon? I mean really!?! Someone needs to make him the male lead as soon as he comes back from his enlistment, if not sooner. I'm sure they can fabricate a drama out of existing clips of him from other shows, right? Another point of contention was that Sung Joon was an absolute jerk to Hye Jin before he realized who she was. I mean, is there really ever an excuse to treat another human that way? Especially one who didn't do anything wrong? I don't understand how his personality can do a complete 180 like that. As cute as he appears, it makes me intrinsically not trust him.

However, I'd give the drama a solid 4.6 rating on the LoganLand scale. A must watch for anyone who loves star-crossed lovers, romantic comedies, or any fan of Siwon.

So those are my thoughts on She Was Pretty. What are yours? I'd love to hear them!

It really was a great drama! My younger cousin just started watching it last night and she was sending me messages about how it was already playing with her emotions! Haha. I told her it was only going to get worse before it got better.

I hope we watch the same dramas as well! But you can write to me any time about anything, especially anything Kdrama related :)I'd love to hear from you! And I'm always up for recommendations if you're watching something good.